Thursday, October 18, 2012

Lecture Notes9-17-12

To: Mr. Romney

Subject: The First Policy is the Economy, but it is not the only Policy.

I am a Republican because I recognize that the first policy of government must be to get the economy right. If you do not get the economy right none of the other policies matter. However the difference between the two political parties with respect to the economy has narrowed in recent years. And not just in America but in Britain as well. The so called New Labor Party represents an open acknowledgement that the Socialist Dreams have been replaced by economic realism.Since Billy Clinton led the Democrats back to the center on the economy, the debate between the two Parties turns less on economics and more on the other issues which divide us. For example welfare had been for at least three generations thought by Democrats as an alternative or substitute to gainful participation in the economy. Welfare reform under Billy Clinton is another open acknowledgement that welfare was no substitute for work. Both Parties had come to see that the culture of welfare was ruinous to the human spirit.

(As I understand the position of Doctor Professor Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on welfare reform, it came down to one issue: will we guarantee the children of welfare absolute protection? Dr. Gingrich is the only political leader to answer Dr. Moynihan’s position. Dr. Gingrich offered the idea of creating orphanages. (I had previously recommended we call orphanages “24 hour schools,” as a more up to date term.) But Billy Clinton turned a blind eye on the plight of the children of welfare. No guarantees for the children were forthcoming. They “rolled over Moynihan” as one administration staffer said.)But the fact remains that before welfare reform the Republican Party held the leading position on that issue and the culture of dependency . The Democrats for over three generations aligned themselves with that poisonous culture of welfare. (The recent movie Precious showed the lives of welfare recipients.) However, the point I am making is strategic: as the Democrats move to the center the argument for Republicans grows weaker. Had the Republicans followed Dr. Gingrich’s suggestion the Republicans could have once again taken the moral high ground by offering 24 hour schools for troubled youths. There are 19,000 children in New York Cities’ homeless shelters. You may feel that these are just part of the 47% who are dependent on the government and you don’t care about them.

However, the 5% to 10% you identify as being in the center and who may be amenable to our arguments are concerned about the homeless, and about the 50 million without insurance coverage, and about the 23 million unemployed or under employed or just to discouraged to look for work.

If you want to persuade the middle 10% you must concern yourself with the bottom 47% for the middle 10% of voters are looking at how you would treat “the least of them,” before giving you their vote.PS And I think the Iranian nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime must be overthrown.